I find myself saying, "Remember back when..." a lot these days. It's not that I think of myself as being terribly old and I think fondly of the good old days. Heck, my mother was 87 when she died and if I can look and act half as good as she did at that age, I'll be happy. It just seems that things have changed so much in the last 40-50 years.

For example, remember getting into a car and not (gasp!) putting on a seat belt? Heck, remember when cars didn't even have seat belts? And windshield washer fluid - what did we do before windshield washer fluid came spraying out onto the windshield to clean it off?

When we were kids we used to spend a lot of time playing outside. Who am I kidding - we disappeared right after breakfast and Mother was just happy when we showed up for lunch and supper. Other than that, she didn't have a care in the world as to where we were. She didn't have to worry that someone might snatch us up, or that we might be out back experimenting with drugs. We could always be found somewhere in the neighborhood, safe and sound.

Speaking of meals...well first of all, we were all together for our meals. It was always a family affair; maybe that's why families functioned so much better back then - they actually sat together for meals, had enjoyable conversations with each other and looked forward to that time together. And, chances were pretty good that after supper we'd all sit around and watch a family-friendly television show. (Remember the bright, white tube that surrounded the old television screens - what was that all about?)

And the food! Bacon and eggs, fried chicken, red meat, rich gravies, cookies, desserts, all the stuff that is now so bad for us. If it was so bad for us, how did we manage to chow it all down back then and not drop from heart disease - or worse? Is it only bad for us now, but was okay to eat back then? Does that make sense? I remember when margarine was a hot commodity. It was actually outlawed in this state because it wasn't a dairy product...my grandmother used to smuggle it home when she visited the relatives in Iowa. Now it is one of the worst things you can put in your mouth.

I won't even go into the price of gas back then, because it makes me cry every time I pull in to fill up these days. Gas-guzzlers - there is a phrase you never heard when I was growing up. All the cars back then were big cars; compact did not mean a small car (I believe it had something to do with makeup), and no one cared that they had a big gas tank. Of course, when I was in high school, we could put a dollar's worth of gas in the tank and cruise Main Street all night long.

Ah for the good old days, when the biggest concern we had was what time "Bonanza" was on, would we be allowed to play outside after dark - and for heaven's sake, please pass that gooey dessert.

You can reach Mary Bruemmer by e-mail at mary. bruemmer@pineriverjournal.com